Come On 2011: I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness

Today, it was announced that original blog band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are readying a new album to be released in September. However, there is a band that emerged during the CYHSY era that I would much rather see release new material.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years now since Austin’s I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness released their debut album, Fear Is On Our Side. Filled with the kind of dark and mysterious atmospherics that one would expect from a city like Manchester, it still sounds like little else that has come out of Austin before or since. The band’s debut was well received by critics, and it easily marked them as one of the more unique groups in a city filled with garage rock revivalists. However, aside from a handful of appearances in the last few years (including a 2009 show at the Mohawk), the band has managed to remain almost completely silent. Whether it was a reaction to the attention they were getting or just a way to write in peace, the band has had very little interaction with the media and still has not confirmed whether or not they will be releasing a follow-up anytime soon. However, there are still a few reasons why one can remain hopeful that I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness will emerge from their isolation and cast the same dark shadow that was so alluring all those years ago.

I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness are a band that have been known to take their time. After they burst onto the scene with their Britt Daniel produced eponymous EP back in 2003, it was nearly three years before Fear Is On Our Side was ready for release. It makes sense, then, to think that the band take a very detail oriented approach to their craft. If they were to release an album in the next year, it would undoubtedly be a work that was toiled over with the same sort of attention they gave their debut. Additionally, the band posted a status on their MySpace that simply read “writing” last July, giving fans some hope that a new album is in the works.

One can only hope that I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness are still in the writing process or have at least started work on their second album. The Austin music scene is in dire need of their uniquely ominous sound to add some color to the city’s somewhat limited palate when it comes to churning out bands. Fear Is On Our Side has aged remarkably well, and the band still sounded in top form when I saw them two years ago. With any luck, they will return within the next year with new material and a reason to fall in love with them all over again.